Chase of the Spectre!
by ziggy9677
Summary: ...you ever have one of those days? one of those days where you think 'it just can't possibly get ANY worse' well, for me today has REALLY been turning out like that.
1. Prolouge

**This is my first story so bear with me here, it is being co-written with s11jande (who we will introduce his character in a few chapters) so i hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: i do NOT own Pokemon even though i wish i did. this applies to every chapter after this. i do own my O.C.s though, but not other people's O.C.s**

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...you ever have one of those days where you think 'it just can't possibly get ANY worse?' well, for me today has REALLY been turning out like that.

After all its not every day that you have a insane Absol out for your blood for who-knows-why, and an evil organization that has an army of corrupt dark and ghost Pokemon after you. AND you have to deal with a hyperactive mankey, a know-it-all trainer, a group of hybrids who think your their leader, and being half Pokemon all at the same time.

And you think your life is rough?

But im getting ahead of myself here, lets start at the beginning, shall we?

**Prologue: The Beginning **

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My name is Daniel Terrian and I'm 15, most people just call me Dan though. I live in a town just like any other with everything any other town would have: a school, grocery stores, Pokemon centers, the usual. In other words, a pretty boring place.

Like most people, I wanted to start out on a Pokemon journey when I was 13 to see the world and all of its Pokemon and people, but my mom had other plans for me. See, she was one of the controlling types, you know? Never lets you spend the night at your friend's house, always wants to know where you are and what you're doing, freaks out if your gone for longer than a three minutes - controlling. So the idea of her son going off on a journey all over the place, often not knowing where I was or if I was OK kinda set off every alarm and bell in her head. I'm pretty sure that you can see what her answer was. Instead, she wanted me to go and work at the same exact place that she worked at, the store right down the street.

So there I was, staying at home, going to school like a nice boy and coming home at 3:15 every day and either visiting her or calling her at work so she knew i was home. See i told ya, boring. So lets skip to the present, shall we?

Monday, August 14, 3:18 P.M.

'The day my life changed'

"OK, bye mom" click 'Sometimes i wonder about her...' I thought as I hung up the phone. "If only I had went on a journey when I was younger; At least i can escape life by watching some good old T.V." I said walking to the couch and flopping down on the rough, worn down cushions, and turning on the TV to Trainer's channel.

'Heh, I'm still surprised she hasn't blocked this yet.' I thought as the rerun documentary of Nidorans ended and the show went to commercials, when something they were saying actually caught my eye.

"Kids, are you tired of everyday life? Do you want the adventure of a Pokemon journey, but for just some reason you are unable to have one? Do you like Pokemon but aren't able to have one?"

"Yea yea, get to the point."

"Well, if you enter your name and address in this grand Pokecontest, you can have the biggest excitement of your life! Have your own Pokemon! Fight other trainers! Be your own Person! But you have to hurry as only ten people will win this prize, and once its gone we wont offer this again! Just send a letter to our offices saying what your favorite Pokemon is and why you want to win to:

165 W Oak St.

Trenberry Town

78364-9384

Remember time is running out, enter today!"

"... Well what have i got to lose? I might as well send in a letter, even if my mom won't let me go; After all it's not like she knows anyone there."

So I went and wrote the letter saying the usual thing that someone would send to one of these contests, but I put my own little part in it about how my mom never let me do ANYTHING; How my life was so boring and there was nothing here for me, and how I wish I had a Luxray but I could never get one.

'Heh lets see what they think of that.' So I sent it off and hoped for the best; Of course i kept it to myself, because I know what would happen if I told anyone, my mom would hear it and i would never be home alone ever again.

Come to think of it though, I would barely see her again after what happened.

One week later

SLAM "AARRRRGGGHH!" "I swear if its not one thing its another, first my girlfriend leaves me, then someone steals my clothes after gym and I get embarrassed in front of the school! My life couldn't be any worse! Oh wait, I just remembered, I have to work at that cruddy old store with my mom when im out of school!" I said stomping past the phone right into the living room and hoping as I sat down on the couch that there would be something good and distracting on the TV. crunch

"Huh? Whats this?" And when I got up to see what i sat on, i found out it was a letter; To ME none the less! "Mom must've missed this..." Then when I opened it and saw what it said, I swear I could feel my jaw literally hitting the floor. It said that I was one of the Grand Prize winners of the Pokecontest!

"YEAAAAAAAAAAA!"

--

**well this is my first fic so review, but no flames please!! And if there are any grammar mistakes i will try fixing them soon.(I don't know if this will happen again, but some sound effects i put in have asterisks around them, but after posting this they disappeared some how)**

**i am going to be accepting characters for some time, but i only need 7-8. if you want to submit yours just put the name, description, hometown, and anything else needed in a review or pm and I'll get back to you on it.**

**see ya later. Bai.**


	2. Leavings and new meetings!

**Note: Trenberry town is on the northeast side of Pastoria city, near Lake Valor. Speckle town is to the west of Pastoria, near the corner at route 212. This was very confusing to figure out at first.**

**And yes, Natasha, Daniel is VERY oblivious to what could go wrong with those kinds of contests. The Nidoran documentary just kind of popped out of my head when I thought "What is one of the most boring Pokemon, yet so uncommon that people would want to learn more about them? Nidorans that what!"**

**Sorry about the grammar problems and strange out of place words, but ffnet likes to mess up my sentences and delete words and symbols. Also some warning: this chapter will be a little s l o w! bear with me here the next one will be better.**

**Please Read and Review, but no flames if possible 'cause I ran out of marshmallows to roast the other day :P**

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**Chapter 1: Leavings and new meetings!**

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The letter from the company (which had a really strange name called Specter & Company) said this:

Dear Daniel Terrian,

You have been selected as one of the Grand Prize winners of our Pokecontest! All you have to do is come down to our office at the address indicated on the envelope and claim your prize! If you can get here within three days, you can also bring a friend to get a Pokemon and come with you! Remember that you only have three days so hurry!

Wow. I could not believe I had actually won. I mean, there must've been tons of people who entered this, and out of all of them, I was picked to come!

I didn't have any really close friends, so after reading that I went upstairs to my room, and gathered what I needed. I managed to find an old backpack from when my mom had a Pokemon journey (if she went on one why couldn't I?!) in a place that she said was, "The great, wide, beautiful plains of the Kanto region." I figured she never used the thing, and its on its last leg, so why not take it?

"let's see, I have my sleeping bag, a few days worth of food, a set of clothes, don't think I'm missing anything..."

I put the backpack on, came down the stairs, and headed to the sliding back door when I remembered, I forgot to grab a map and my money! I can't believe I almost left it all! So I left the back door closed and went through the hallway to my mom's room where she keeps all the money. I guess she thought that if she could hide all the money from me, she could keep me from going anywhere. What she didn't count on was me watching exactly where she puts it all in case I wanted to buy something. Hey, don't blame me for being so sneaky, I'm 15.

I was reluctant to take the money, but if I wanted to get to Trenberry I had to have something. So I entered her room and looked for the hidden panel that hides the box where she puts our money. 'She ought to have tried to hide this better' I thought as I opened the secret hatch in the bottom of her dresser. 'After all, I'm a kid. Finding where stuff is hidden is my job! Besides that, she won't need my money when I'm gone'.

Since the dining room was right next to hers, I figured that I might as well write her a letter so she won't worry as much. After all, I'm not heartless. It was convenient, too; The map was in the roll desk near the corner of the room. When I opened the desk up and looked in, I was surprised at the amount of dust that was gathering around the supplies in there. Dusting the papers off some, so I could see, I found the map near the bottom of a pile of what looked like letters from her brother. 'I wonder what happened to him,' I was guessing that she quit writing to him, why else would there be so much dust on these old letters. Wiping off some paper and finding a pen under all that rubble (she was never really organized when it came to office supplies), I began to write a letter to mom, explaining where I went.

Dear Mom,

When you read this, I will be gone. Don't worry, I just went to Trenberry Town to deliver something for one of my teachers because he can't go right now. I took some money and the map if it takes longer than I thought. I will try to keep in contact if it takes longer than a few days.

See you soon,

Love, Daniel.

'Sigh, I hope that she takes this alright. I don't really want to go like this, but I know she would never let me go otherwise. Besides, this way she will at least know that I haven't abandoned her totally. After all, it's not like I won't send her letters, or like I will be gone forever'.

After leaving the note next to her purse, which she forgot again, I slipped my map into my backpack and cut across the house to the back door; almost flinching at the thought of how mad my mom would be later on.

And on I went to Speckle Town to obtain supplies that I couldn't get from around the house. Anyway, I couldn't be seen leaving the town, because Arceus knows that my mom talks to everyone, and if someone saw me, my mom would somehow know instantly that I left town.

Looking around for anyone, I was suddenly glad that we lived near pastoria city. Because if we lived near Sandgem or Twinleaf, I would have to go through MT. Coronet to get anywhere near Trenberry Town.

(Come to think of it, who names a town Trenberry or Speckle? Or Sandgem and Twinleaf for that matter? It sounds like it was something an author with writer's block thought of.)

So, ignoring the funky town names, I hopped over our white picket fence and went into the thick slew of a forest that people called safari zone, heading west away from Trenberry. I just hoped that I got to Speckle town in one piece.

Coming from Pastoria, it was almost as if the Pokemon were non-existent. Even though it's normally full of Pokemon, it was eerily empty today.

'I wonder what happened to all the Pidgey and Starly that are usually out at this time'?

After traversing the forest for quite sometime (and getting lost) I started to get edgy, since I don't have anything to protect me. Trying to look everywhere at once, I missed the gnarled root that protruded from the ground in front of me. "Whoa"!

I stumbled forward right into what could only be described as the aftermath of a war zone. An area about the size of half of Pastoria in front of me was practically destroyed; trees uprooted, the grass charred, and what looked like something made huge chunks of the earth get thrown around and just... well... disappear.

"What the heck... it looks like a huge battle went on here".

"You just read my thoughts"

"What? Who's there"?

Just then as I said that someone emerged out of the tree line on the left side of the field. He looked about 15 and was wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans; he also had dark brown hair that looked like it was in need of a good washing.

"Who are you"? I asked.

"I'm Salle, who are you"?

"The name's Daniel. Do you know who - or what - did this"?

"No, I hoped that you knew" 'Unless he did this... No, he couldn't have'. "Do you mind if I come with you? After all, I sure don't want to be alone if whatever did this decides to come back".

I was debating whether or not if he should come with me and I thought 'Why not, the letter said I could bring a friend too'. "Sure," I said "Where are you going anyway"?

"I'm heading to Trenberry Town, I've got some business there".

Hey, he's going to the same place I am, did he win the contest too? "Me too, I was just going to stop over at Speckle Town to get some supplies. You don't happen to have any pokeballs or Pokemon, do you"?

"I only have a few pokeballs with me that I brought, come over here and I'll give you one".

Carefully navigating past the holes and dead trees in the clearing, I was slowly making my way over there; And just when I only had about 20 feet left to go before I could get to Salle, what sounded like a furious roar of an ursaring bellowed out to the right.

"What was that"? I said beginning to panic.

"I don't know, but it's heading this way"! He said hastily, "Hurry up and get over here"!

I didn't want to face anything that could make a roar like that, or this destruction for that matter, and I sure didn't want to face it if it was angry. Scrambling over to Salle, no longer watching where I was running; When suddenly, bursting out of the right of the clearing like a zubat out of hell, came the mother of all Tyraniars. And to tell the truth, it looked like it had just had its tail stomped on and was slapped across the face by a Pachirisu before it stole his dinner. In other words (excuse my french) it was pissed. Unluckily for us, we were directly in its path.

"Oh son of a Mankey, we better get out of here Daniel, NOW!!"

--

**Yay for new sayings, obscure references, and cliffhangers to nowhere!**

**Well, that's the next chapter folks! Hoped you liked it, I had some trouble in the middle figuring out where in the world I would put this, and the answer came from a review. From one of Rellymaster's stories, I found out that his character lives in Sinnoh so I figured I would put it there.**

**The next chapter should have a fight scene in it, as well as new characters, enemies, and more mindless ballyhoo to boot! In other words: FUN!!**

**Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciate it. It helped to have those O.C.s for the story too, and I hope that Salle came out alright. (Ducks under a table to avoid any possible thrown projectiles from the audience). The next chapter will be better than this one (action-wise), this one, I admit, was slower than I wanted it, but it was necessary to get Dan out of the town and on his way(that and it's one heck of a time for a new character to come in).**

**speaking of OCs, I'm accepting about 3-4 more of them in about 2-3, maybe 4 chapters at the most until I won't need them for a while. still nice to get reviews, as I found out that they do, in fact, help.**

**See ya later. Bai.**


	3. Fate is evil

**well this one was hard to write, mostly because of bad writers block. Sorry, but the chapters will be later coming out because of other things in my life right now that is taking up my time more and more. From here on out, I am going to try something new, tell me if you like it. It's where I am going to switch POV's periodically. Its kind of necessary for what I want to do and for the story to go on.**

**sorry it took a while, internet was out and all that. more details at the bottom.**

**and now on to the show!**

**Daniel: About time, I want to know if I make it out alright!**

**Pokespeech is in _italics._**

**anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and R&R please! it really helps!**

**--**

**Chapter 2: Fate is Evil  
**

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When I saw the rage in the Tyranitar's eyes, I knew that it meant business and there was no way out of a fight. Unfortunately, we had no Pokemon with us.

"Come on Daniel, we have to get out of here!"

"I know, what do you think I'm doing?!" I said as I was running for my life. When I reached Salle we ran as fast as we could into the woods away from the raging Tyranitar; but it was slowly gaining on us. The only reason that we weren't torn limb from limb right now was because of the fact that the Tyranitar was having to smash the trees down while we could just dodge around them.

"jeez, does this thing ever give up?"

"Don't worry," Salle yelled out, "There's a small river up a head that we can escape in. You can swim, right?"

And suddenly, I regretted not taking those swimming classes last year. "Let's just say that I'm about as good at swimming as a golem is at flying."

"...Your kidding, right?"

Have I ever said that Tyranitars hate being ignored? Well they do. And just to prove this point, as we went curved around the last trees and reached the river, It fervently yelled out, stopped, raised its leg, and slammed it down hard enough to make the ground shake violently for quite a distance around. It was hard to keep our footing and avoid the parts of the ground that were crumbling under our feet.

"We need to get over that river somehow!"

"I know, I know!!" I said just before I cartwheeled backwards, courtesy of a large rock that decided that it would be fun to trip me.

I would have fallen backwards, into the river and might have found myself a watery grave, if not for the fact that the tyranitar woke up a very grumpy floatzel; And that it popped out of the water just in time to be in the way of my fall.

**Salle's POV**

'He doesn't have very good luck, does he? Wait, where did that floatzel come from? I thought that all the Pokemon had left by now?' I pondered while staring at what happened.

Looking very surprised, the floatzel took some time before he fully understood what had happened. In other words he was thinking "What?"

by now, the earthquake was finished and yet, the Tyranitar was STILL being ignored by the very things that he was chasing.

_"Hey! Get back here!"_

Did I forget to mention that I could understand the speech of Pokemon for almost as long as I could remember? Either way, with all three of us still ignoring the Tyranitar, the floatzel still didn't look very happy that he was woken up in the middle of the day, his home practically destroyed by some MORONS earthquake, and that now some human had the nerve to land on top of his head! He looked up at Dan and decided that this had gone on more than long enough, thus he preceded to take Dan and throw him back to the edge of the river, but as we all know, plans never go as, well, planned. In fact, fate decided that it wasn't done yet with our little group and the Tyranitar started to gather what seemed like thousands of tiny little particles inside its mouth.

_"Alright, who are you,"_ the floatzel said pointing at us, _"And who woke me up and ruined my home??"_

and it just so happened that I was the only one paying attention to the Tyranitar at that moment of time.

"What is it... HOLY &(, get out of the way!!" I yelled, while diving out of the way of the soon-to-be hyper beam that was charging in the Tyranitar's maw.

I managed to scramble out of the way of the hyper beam and Dan was way clear of anything the Tyranitar was going to do, but it wasn't aiming at either of us, it decided that it didn't like the floatzel saving one of its prey.

FWOOM the hyper beam roared across the small clearing and impacted just a few inches off of the unlucky floatzel. Let's just say that he got his first flying lesson that day, but luckily, he landed back in the river.

_"Hah! that'll teach him not to interfere in my business!"_

that Tyranitar was really getting on my nerves. I mean who does he think he is, picking on someone for nothing, hitting someone when they aren't looking, and to top it off, IT WANTED TO KILL US! The only thing I figured that could save us was the floatzel... that was nowhere near us. crap.

_"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, I was about to work out some 'anger' issues, heh heh heh."_

"What are we going to do Salle?"

"We have to find that floatzel, if you can't swim it's probably our only chance to get out of here alive. And we better hurry, the Tyranitar will have recovered its energy soon!"

After doing a quick glance at Dan to make sure that he was OK, I dived into the river to try and find that floatzel. Fortunately, I'm a great swimmer so the rivers current wasn't that bad, but I had to find AND persuade the floatzel to help us or Dan would be done for.

I looked around in the river for the floatzel, but I couldn't seem to find him anywhere. Surfacing, because i need to breathe and that I couldn't talk underwater, I yelled out "Hey! where are you floatzel?"

_"My name is Silias, and I'm over here. Why do I even bother, you can't understand me anyway."_

looking over to my right, where Silias was and said, "OK, if I can't understand you, how do I know that your name is Silias?"

With a such a hilarious face that I wish you could see, he said _"Jesus, you can understand me?!" _

"Yeah, I've been able to for a long time. But that's not very important right now, what is, is that we need your help to defeat that Tyranitar, and if you don't, my friend will be in big trouble."

_"Yeah, what's in it for me?!"_

"Well, he is the one who destroyed your home and woke you up." see, it pays to pay attention.

Without thinking twice he said, _"Alright, that son-of-a-gun is going DOWN!"_ Silias declared as he raced through the water at the Tyranitar.

Since my work was done in the river, I swam back to the shore and ran back to Dan to watch the ensuing battle between Silias and the Tyranitar.

**Back to everyone's POV**

_"What's this? A little Floatzel is trying to take ME down?_" The Tyranitar arrogantly boasted. _"Well take a piece of this!" _he said as he leaned over, grasped a huge chunk of earth and yanked it out of the ground.

"Watch out Silias, he's going to use rock throw!"

"Silias?"

"Tell you later, when we're not in danger."

Of course, Silias was smart enough to not charge at it head first (after all, would you willingly charge at a bear dinosaur thing? I thought not) and instead took a sharp left, away from us and into the forest.

_"Hah! would you look at that, it's just a big scaredy-cat after all!"_ the Tyranitar said arrogantly, lowering the boulder and turning back to us. _"Now where were we?"_

Regrettably for him it seemed that his father didn't teach him to never turn your back on your opponent. It was his loss, because Silias came up from behind with a very fast Aqua jet right to the back of his head that left more than just a bruise; And just to make it worse, he didn't have a good grip on that boulder and it landed on his foot. hard.

_"GAH! That's it, playtime is OVER!"_ he said, turning around and charging the air around him with electricity.

"He knows electric type moves?" I exclaimed in surprise

"I didn't know that either, but what I really hate is not being able to help him out."

Even though it has been going so well so far, bouncing off the back of someone's skull, no matter how thick it is, takes some time to recover from. And if you can put two and two together, then you realize that Silias was about to get electrified.

_"Take this!"_ yelled Tyranitar as the electricity flitted through the air and slammed directly into Silias.

_"AAaaAAaaAAhhHHHhhHHhh!"_ of course, water pokemon do not like being electrocuted, as that tends to do more than just sting.

_"Didn't expect that, now did you?_"

"Hey, over here stupid!"

"_huh?"_ confusingly looking over, he had no idea what was going to happen next. Salle had picked up a peculiar nasty looking rock and chucked it straight at the Tyranitar's face.

_"Argh!"_ he yelled, clutching his right eye where the rock had hit him, _"so you want to play too? Well that can be arranged!"_ when he started to run over, I got a little worried. just a little.

"Uhh, Salle, why did you make the Tyranitar even angrier?"

"That's easy, just look straight ahead." Of course, the Tyranitar forgot about Silias, who was recovering from mild shock, right behind him.

_'Mental note, never, EVER, piss off a Pokemon that knows electric type moves. Hey, wait a second, his back is to me! Time to end this thing.'_ Running up behind the Tyranitar, Silias leaped up into the air and landed right on top of the Tyranitar's head. _"So this is how the weather is up here!"_ Pretty much the last thing the Tyranitar saw that day was Silias's overzealous grin looking down at him from the top of his head as a deep blue pulses of water smashed into his face.

_"TIMBER!"_ Silias yelled, jumping out of the way before he got smashed by the girth of the Tyranitar, who slammed into the ground right onto his tail.

"Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be. You OK Silias?" Salle asked.

_"All I have to say is Ow."_

"OK will someone PLEASE explain to me what is going on with you and that floatzel?!"

"Well, to make it short and simple, somehow I can talk to pokemon. It has only happened when something awkward happens, but I'll tell you more later. But back to the point, this floatzel just saved us so we should be grateful to him. Speaking of which, he kind of needs some help right now."

"HEY, don't I get a say in anything?"

"Well, I kind of thought that since he helped save us, that he should stay with us. After all, we don't have any other Pokemon, and we do owe him."

"Yeah, I guess your right."

"So Silias, will you come with us?"

_"Well, considering that I'm already up and my place is demolished, I have no other option really. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to faint now."_ And true to his word he fell right over.

"Whoa! Silias! Dan, we need to get him to a Pokemon center!"

"Calm down, there's one back in... pastoria..."

"OK lets get going!" Salle said picking up Silias and thus the three set off back toward pastoria city.

--

Hidden in the bushes just out of sight, a lone figure watched the team as they rushed off towards town.

"Hmm, these three might actually be worth the effort of following. Either that or Zain is starting to slack off. Sigh, time to go revive his sorry behind and go back home, I swear, if I wasn't here that Tyranitar would still be a prisoner of that worthless excuse of a trainer."

and after that, no one was left in the clearing.

--

**DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN it's the evil cliffhanger of nowhere!**

**well I hoped that you all enjoyed this chapter of chase of the spectre! this one took me a while to write, but it was worth it. tell me what you thought of the new POV system and how I handled the battle (and yes, Silias is strong, and the Tyranitar was overconfident. so sue me). but Anywho, this took a while because of two/three things. one, my internet was down for about a week, two, this was my first battle scene and finding sounds to go with attacks is harder than it seems (for me at least.), and three, my dad just came back from Qatar (near Saudi Arabia) and this was the only time for a while I can see him. now that we are over this point in the story, we can move along to the next city. hopefully. maybe I will just leave everyone in the forest. I'm evil like that (Muhahahaha).**

**thanks for your support**

**R&R**

**see ya later. Bai.**


	4. The team grows

**All right, I admit, this chapter has taken me a while to make, and to tell the truth, I have no real reason for this horrid delay. But I'm hoping that since summer is starting and school is out, I can get writing again (woo!). from what I heard, my last chapter was one of my best so far. I hope that this one is up there, but it probably won't for quite a few reasons that I can't say unless I want to spoil the chapter.**

**Either way, our team heads through a town and a route; and we learn more about the fight in the forest.**

**Silias: maybe we can find out who that idiot was who destroyed my home!**

**Dan: be quiet! I wanna see what happens next!**

**Anyway, disclaimers and such: I do not own Pokemon, even though I wish I did.**

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**Chapter 3: The Team Grows**

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"Finally!" Salle said, walking out of the tree line of the forest behind Pastoria.

Not far behind him came Daniel. "Welcome to my home, the sooner we leave the better."

"Why's that?" Salle asked.

"Well, lets just say that there is some bad history between me and someone else here. I'd like to get out of here ASAP"

"All right. Now where is the pokecenter?"

"It's near the center of the town, I'll take you there."

Working our way through the town, I started to wonder if I really should go through with this. I mean, on one side, I could stay here and live out the rest of my life with my mom working at the local 'mart. On the other hand, I could go and actually have a life of my own, meet new people and Pokemon, and maybe even become a trainer. Before I could think more, we were already at the front door of the center. Wasting no time, we rushed in to get treatment for Silias.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Ahh, the ever cheerful nurse joy's attitude.

"Our Floatzel got into a fight and he needs some help!" Salle said, handing Silias to Nurse Joy.

"Oh, this doesn't look too bad, I will get him fixed up in no time. Chansey, come take our patient to recovery room number 3 please." Joy said, handing Silias to her Chansey. "Your Floatzel will be fighting fit in no time. You can wait over in the lounge area until he is done healing."

"I hope he isn't hurt too bad." Salle mumbled, "I mean, it's our fault that he got injured in the first place..."

"Hey, don't look so down, that Tyranitar would've went by his place sooner or later anyway. At least we were there to take him to get healed."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Flopping down on the couch, we sat in silence and watched the TV while we waited for Sillias to be patched up. "Anyway, who was it you don't want to see here?"

"Well, in a few seconds you might just see who it is." And walking in was none other than my very own mother.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?" And there was the death bell ringing.

Thinking quickly, probably a bit too quick for my own good, I said "Well, umm, I was on my way to Trenberry town for Mr. Conrad, but I met Salle here and one of his Pokemon, Silias. Silias was injured and I suggested that we go here for some treatment."

"And exactly what were you going to deliver to who for Mr. Conrad, hmm?" She said, crossing her arms.

"Well, it was.. umm..."

"It was what?"

Daniel could only stand being under her glare for so long, and eventually said, "Well, to tell the truth, I, um, I kind of entered a contest a while back for a chance to, well, become a trainer. It turns out that I won and they invited me to go to Trenberry to get my own pokemon and everything!"

"You did WHAT? You went and entered that contest to become a trainer, which i had told you NOT to do, against EVERYTHING I told you?"

"Yes mom, I did. And if I hadn't entered that contest, I would've never met Salle and Silias! I know how much you wanted me to stay here and finish school so I could work in town and be all nice and safe, but it's not the life for me, mom! I want some adventure! I want some excitement! Staying in this town would've practically killed me! Can't you understand that?!?" Daniel said, nearly screaming back at his mom by the end.

Daniel's mom, taken aback by this unexpected outburst, seemed speechless for a while. When she finally gathered her wits, she said, "Well Daniel, you mean you don't want to stay here with me? I-I thought that you liked being here and going to school..."

'sigh'"Listen, I like this town and I love you, but like I said, I want some excitement. Don't you remember when you were young? You used to tell me about how you were a great trainer and how fun and exciting it was. I just want a chance to have some of that adventure. So I'll ask you here and now; Can I please go and become a trainer?"

Looking like she was on the verge of tears, Daniel's mom, after what seemed like an eternity to Salle and him, said, "Alright, I guess you can go.. but only under one condition. You have to promise to call me every now and then to tell me how you are doing. I might be 'old' and 'strict' but I used to be a trainer at one time too. And you, Salle is it? Be sure to take care of my son for me."

"I'll be sure of that Mrs. Terrian!" Salle said, with a mock salute.

"Good. Now before you leave me, I want you to do one thing." She said.

"What's that mom?" Daniel asked.

"Come here and give me a hug!" She said, walking forward and embracing Daniel. "Oh! Wait a minute! I almost forgot to give you something!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet. "You probably need some supplies, right? Well just give them this card at the mart and tell them that i said to give you whatever you need and I'll pay for it." She said pulling a shopping card from one of the pockets and gave it to Daniel. "Just remember to give it to Joe at the register and I'll pick it up later."

"I will! Bye Mom! I love you!" "Bye Mrs. Terrian!"

"You remember to take care of yourselves!" And with that, she went through the doors of the center waving back at Daniel and Salle.

After a few minutes, Nurse Joy and her chansey walked in, slightly wet, with Silias beside them. "Excuse me Sirs, but your Floatzel is all better now! He's quite a feisty one, isn't he?"

"_Well, maybe if you hadn't poked and prodded me so much, I wouldn't have had to use that water pulse!_" Sillias said indignantly.

"He's a handful all right. Thank you Nurse Joy!" Salle said.

"Oh, it was no problem at all! Now if you don't mind, I'm going to change into something a little more dry." she said before walking to one of the rooms in the back of the center and closing the door.

Crossing his arms, Silias stalked over to Salle. _"All right, so where do we go from here, huh?_"

"Well," Salle started, "Since it seems that we can take some more time here to get supplies, we don't have to take a detour to Speckle Town. After that, we just have to get to Trenberry Town, right Dan?"

"Yeah, all we have to get is some potions, a few antidotes and pokeballs, and some food for the road; at least until we get to Trenberry."

Looking at both of them, Silias said, "_That's quite a long walk, isn't it? Are you guys sure that you're up to it?_"

"All right, so why don't we get going if Silias is all better?" Dan said, starting out of the center. "C'mon!"

"Wait up!" Salle yelled, running after him with Silias in tow.

---

August 21 5:23 P.M.

Location: Small ramshackle 'hut' near lake valor

It was one of those places that seemed like nothing could be going on. That is, until you saw the Tyranitar attempting to stealthily go through the front door of the hut. 'jeez, why did he have to have his home all the way out here? Personally, I don't care for these 'scenic' locations..' Zain thought as he went in and closed the door.

"What exactly happened out there, Zain? Hmm?" Said a voice, seemingly from nowhere.

"Gah! u-umm, well, you see, what happened is-" Zain mumbled.

Stepping out of the shadows came a sleek, crimson red and white absol. "I'm hoping what you're going to say next is 'I failed to capture ANY of the three subjects', correct? Well, that is of no importance right now, what is important is that we now have an idea of just who we are up against. And that they actually might be a challenge. Eventually. I have a new plan for you. Instead of capturing those three like that disgraceful moron (whom I have the great displeasure of serving under) said to, I want you to follow them and make sure that they get to Trenberry. And I want them to get out of town after the 'boss' finishes with them. Understand?"

"Yes Sir! Crystal clear Sir!" Zain saluted him and turned to leave.

"Oh, one last thing. If ANY of them happen to get harmed or die while you're watching them, well, let's just say that you won't be the happiest Tyranitar in the woods."

"Of course Sir!" Zain said before leaving.

" 'Sigh', he worries me sometimes. I have to admit, he is a strong Pokemon; though I wonder if that practice session that caused that destruction in the field was somewhat 'overkill'." He said before exiting the hut into the surrounding woods.

---

Back at Pastoria City, Dan, Salle, and Sillias had just got done buying the needed supplies from the store (potions, pokeballs, full-heals, etc), and were about to leave the town to head for Trenberry.

"Phew! Now maybe we can get to Trenberry!" Dan said, straightening his backpack.

"No kidding. Hey I got an idea, how about we go along Rt. 213 and through Lake Valor? There may be more trainers, but at least we have less chance of running into a crazy Pokemon like that Tyranitar." Salle asked, looking at Dan.

"Seems like a plan to me." Dan agreed.

"_Hey, doesn't anyone care what I think?!?_" Silias said, waving his arms in the air.

"Hmm? What do you think then Silias?" Salle asked.

"I say we do what you said!"

"...OK.."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing really. Looks like we're going this way then." Salle said, starting down the Rt.

------------------

Luckily for our team, the trip to the resort area was uneventful; well, not all of it. About half way there, they heard some yelling just before the beach. "That's not nearly good enough Growlithe! I know that you can get a bigger flame thrower than that! And you, Scyther, I know that you can take more than five flamethrowers, get back up! You two are worthless!!!"

"What was that?!?" Salle said in surprise

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. Let's check it out." Dan started off to where they heard the shouting from. They came upon a small clearing where it looked like a man, about 19, in a brown t-shirt and blue jeans was 'training' his Pokemon. Only the training had left the Scyther looking like it had almost been deep fried, and the Growlithe had been running a twelve mile marathon about six times in a row.

"_That... that... that's just not right!_" Silias said, with indignation in his voice.

"We've got to do something!" Salle said, storming over to the trainer. "What are you doing to those Pokemon?!?"

"Wha? Who are you, and why should I care what you think about my Pokemon? And for your information, I'm training them so they can be stronger, like all trainers are supposed to do!"

"I'm Salle, and you're not training them, you're practically torturing them! You're the kind of people who give trainers bad names! In fact, I don't even think you should have any Pokemon, the way you treat them!"

"Heh, that's a lot of talk coming from someone like you. I bet that my training is so much better than anything YOU could ever do, that I would even bet my Pokemon themselves that they could beat yours!" He arrogantly proclaimed.

"You're on! if I win, then you give your Pokemon up!"

"And if I win, then I get your Pokemon!"

"Deal!"

"Deal! Once I heal my Pokemon, we battle!" He said, pulling out some potions and a burn heal; Once he used them to fix his Scyther and Growlithe up, he walked to one end of the clearing. "How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Just one, but it'll be more than enough to beat you! C'mon, lets do this Silias!"

"_Yeah, let's teach this jerk a lesson!_" Silias said

"I'll act as referee for this match. First one with no Pokemon left loses. Begin!"

"Heh, this'll be easy! I'll even give you a type advantage! Go growlithe!" He said, sending his growlithe into battle. "Use Flamethrower."

Growlithe hesitated for a second, looking from Silias to Trainer, but eventually said, "_Yes sir..._" and let loose a giant column of flame from his mouth directly at Silias.

"Whoa!" Silias said, jumping out of the way of the massive flamethrower. "_Jeez, that was more like a fireblast, not a flamethrower!_" Silias said, patting out a small flame on his head. _"Let's see how a water pulse works on him._" he said, a pulsing blue ball forming in his hands; he then threw it at Growlithe, where it skipped along the ground, sending out small waves alongside it.

"Growlithe, dodge that pathetic attack." Trainer said arrogantly. Growlithe tunneled under ground to avoid the attack, but the water pulse hit the edge of the tunnel, flew up in the air, and fell back down into the tunnel; making the water pulse burst and fill the tunnel, flushing out Growlithe in a wave of water.

_"Gah!_" Growlithe fell back down outside the tunnel, looking quite shaken, to say the least. "_Ugh, no mommy, I don't want to get up."_ He said before falling down.

"What's the matter? I know you can take more than that! I healed you before the fight, now get up!" the trainer said, stomping angrily. "Argh, it's no use, return Growlithe." he said, pulling out a pokeball and returning Growlithe.

"If you hadn't abused him like you did, then maybe he would've done better." Dan said from the side. "Anyway, send out your next Pokemon, otherwise you will forfeit."

"All right, now it's time to get serious. Go Scyther! Use Vacuum Wave then follow up with X-Scissor!" Trainer said.

"_Feh, I guess._" Scyther said, fanning his wings to start a gust of air around him.

"Vacuum Wave? What's that?" Dan said

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. Silias, quick, before he uses that attack use, um, use an ice attack?"

"_I know, I know; and it's ice fang by the way!_" He said running up to Scyther while his mouth started glowing blue-white. Unfortunately, Scyther finished building up enough air to attack, and crossing his arm blades he slashed the gust of air with an X-Scissor, propelling the air forward into Silias; doing twice the damage he normally would do.

"_Argh! That hurt you know!_" Silias said as he was blown back on the ground a good seven feet. "_I bet you wouldn't know what to do if that trainer of yours wasn't telling you what to do. In fact I bet you couldn't even use an attack without him_."

"_What?!? I don't need that pompous jerk telling me what to do to beat YOU!_" Scyther said, flying at Silias; but not before he jumped out of the way. "_Ha, you call that a quick attack? That was more like you wanted to hug me. Wimp_."

"_RRGH! COME HERE!_" Scyther said, swinging at Silias as fast as he could, not caring if he hit him or not; rage clearly evident in his eyes.

"What are you doing Scyther? Stop that and use steel wing! LISTEN TO ME!!!" Yet, even though Trainer was yelling at him, Scyther still was going berserk. Dodging Scyther's blows, Silias noticed the hole from Growlithe behind him.

'_Maybe I can use that..._' Silias thought. jumping behind the hole, Silias taunted Scyther by saying "_Scyther? You're more like a rattata!_" Luckily for Silias, this only made Scyther madder and he didn't notice Growlithe's hole until he got his foot stuck in it.

"_What?!? RRAGH!_" Scyther couldn't get his foot out of the hole and was too distracted in trying to get his foot out to notice Silias sneaking behind him.

"_Try this, Ice Beam!_" He said, blasting Scyther in the back of the head with an ice beam, giving him the worst kind of brain freeze anyone could have; Effectively freezing Scyther and making him fall over, fainted.

"What?!? No way!" Trainer said, returning Scyther.

"All right! Good job Silias!" Salle said running up to Silias.

"Salle is the winner! According to the bet, you have to give up your Pokemon, Trainer." Dan said, walking over to Trainer.

"Fine! They're worthless Pokemon anyway!" Trainer said, throwing his pokeballs at Dan and Salle, then running away towards Pastoria City.

"Serves him right for abusing his Pokemon." Dan said picking up the pokeballs and handing one to Salle. "Let's heal them and let them rest for a while; I think they deserve some R&R." He suggested, taking out some potions and a full heal for the Pokemon.

------

"Now where do we go?" Salle said, standing at the entrance to Lake Valor.

"Well, according to my map, Trenberry town is to the left of Lake Valor; we can get to it from a path that goes around the lake." Dan said, "Let's get going."

------

**Well, that was actually my longest chapter so far. I hope everyone liked it; the next chapter will be by s11jande (it will have where everyone in my story meets his), you might wanna check out his backstory for his character, check my favorites for the story. as always, R&R. P.S. Dan picked up the pokeball with Growlithe in it and Salle got Scyther.**

**P.P.S. I am still actually accepting any other characters if someone wants theirs in the story. Though with s11jande now writing part of it, it has to be cleared with him too. Either way, just want to say thanks for reading!**


	5. Otherworldly travels

**Hey everyone, it's me ziggy. Sorry for this chapter taking so long; My Co-Author hasn't been able to write (I think) and I got permission from him to write this chapter. Anyway, this chapter is shorter than the rest, but i'm writing it in first person so i'm gonna end the chapter here and pick it up in another with third person. Thanks for being patient with me!**

**p.s. this is going to be from Jared's point of view.**

Dan: Yay! finally a new chapter!

Silias: 'Bout time!

Dan: Hey! quiet down! It's starting!

---

**Chapter 4: Otherworldly Travels**

---

I looked around everywhere, my mouth wide open. I definitely wasn't in high school anymore.

My new surroundings included a lush forest with a clear blue lake in front of me. I was still feeling a little bit disoriented from the whole experience. I staggered over to the lake and looked at my reflection. It might have been just me, but I looked different somehow. The only word I could come up with was 'animated'. I didn't know if it was literally or not, but that's what came to my mind. I splashed water into my face. It was ice cold, but still refreshing. I started going over what just happened.  
'I was in school when the alarm went off, that person chased after me, and now I'm here.' was what I could remember. Suddenly I heard a twig snap. I tried to run, but my feet were frozen in place. More twigs snapped, but they sounded closer then before. Suddenly a small brown, fox-like creature leaped out of the bushes and landed on my face. My voice was muffled as I yelled. I finally flung it off of my face. It landed safely in a patch of tall grass, and curled up and closed it's eyes. I approached it, and was relieved to see that it wasn't hurt. Upon closer examination I saw that it had not one tail, but seven of them, all of them curled at the ends.  
"What the... aren't foxes supposed to have only one tail?" I said to no one; looking at the Vulpix.

"Hey, is your Vulpix ok? It looks like something scared it really bad." Someone said, walking towards me.

'Vulpix? is that What this is?' I thought. "Huh? Umm, yea... He's ok, I think." I said. "Do you know where we are?"

"...Well, We're at the end of Lake Valor. Trenberry town is over there behind those trees... Where are you from anyway?" He said, looking slightly confused.

"I'm from New Cunningham; To tell the truth, I'm confused about how I got here in the first place." I said, Still slightly confused about, well, everything.

"Hey Dan, Who's that?" Someone else said, running towards us. There was something like a big orange otter..weasel with fins and a yellowish tube going up and down his sides and around the back of his neck and tail.

"I'm not sure; I found him here with his Vulpix. What's your name?" Dan asked me.

"It's Jared. Nice to meet you." I said.

"My name's Daniel and my friend's name is Salle. This is his Floatzel, Silias."

"Hey"

"_What's up?_"

"So what's this about you being confused?" Dan asked.

"Well, this may sound kinda crazy, but I was in school like everyday when there was this intruder. Everyone ran out of the school and this pendant I have," I said, pulling out my pendant, "started to glow. The next thing I know is that I'm here at this lake. Then that Vulpix came running out of the forest and fell over there."

"Uhh, wow. That's quite the story. That thunderstone you have doesn't look like any stone I've ever seen before, though." Salle told me.

'So this is called a Thunderstone?' I thought, looking at my pendant. Putting it back in my shirt, i saw the Vulpix in the grass and asked, "Hey, Is there anything we can do for this Vulpix?"

"Well, I have some full heals in my pack." Dan said, taking out a full heal before walking over to the Vulpix. "Here we go..."

"Vull... Pix?" the Vulpix said, opening his eyes after Dan sprayed the full heal on him. "_What?... Where am I?_" He asked, looking around. Noticing me over near the lake's edge, he ran over and jumped right back onto me! "_Thank you for scaring away that Zangoose! He was a big bully!_"

"Gah! Not again!" I said, trying to get the Vulpix off of me.

"Heh, I think he likes you!" Salle said. I think he was trying not to laugh.

"Well, hilarity aside, you wanna come with us to Trenberry? It's not far from here and we can get you to a pokecenter to call someone." Dan asked.

"Yea, sure!" I said, hoping that I could get back home and that everything would go back to normal. But I have a feeling that won't happen anytime soon.

---

**Woo! finally updated. not much to say 'cept:**

** See ya later. Bai.**


	6. Finally there

Hey everyone, It's me, Ziggy again. I know my last chapter was kinda short, but hey, at least it's up, right? Any who, on with the new chapter!

I have to say that i didn't think that this chapter would take so long, but i finally got it done! a note on some names: The Vulpix's name is Kelar, The Scyther's name is Hackblades(a nickname Silias gave him; it fit and kind of stuck with him(much to his displeasure)), The growlithe's name is Flare.

Dan: Yay! more updates!

Chapter 5

---

2:00 P.M. Edge of the Lake.

"I thought you said the town was right behind the treeline?" said Jared, coming out from the trees into a clearing.

"Well, It's supposed to be this way..." said Dan, following behind Jared. "Alright, I admit it, we're lost."

"_Brilliant observation, Einstein. What's next, you gonna tell us that ol' Hackblades is a Scyther?_" Silias piped up, pointing at Hackblades next to Salle.

'It's a good thing Dan can't understand pokespeech.' Salle thought. "Hey, Kelar, You've lived around here, right? Don't you know the way to Trenberry?" he asked.

"_Yes! I was wondering when you'd ask! Just keep going straight until we reach a rock that looks like a Wobuffet, then take the right path._" he said.

"What'd he say?" Dan asked.

"Go straight until we reach Wobuffet Rock, then take a right."

"I still can't believe that you can understand pokemon." Jared said in wonder.

"Yeah, been able too for a long time. don't really know why though." Salle replied.

"C'mon let's go. we barely have two days left to get to the contest hall." Dan said, running off into the forest with the rest of the group.

---

4:00 P.M. Near Wobuffet Rock

"Where's that Rock?" said Dan, going through yet another bush.

"Maybe we passed it? Sigh, I knew we should've taken the main road instead of the shortcut. Who's idea was this anyway?!?" Salle said as he sat down on a small boulder.

"_Well, it's not my fault, 'cause I'm lost now too! And I've lived here for at least a year!_" Kelar said next to Jared.

"*Sigh* It's OK, I just wanna get out of here a.s.a.p." Salle said, stopping. "Hey, did you guys hear that?" he said.

"Hear what?" Jared asked looking around the forest, trying to find what Salle heard.

"_He heard me_!" suddenly, bursting from the treeline off to their right came Zain.

"It's the Tyranitar from the forest!" Dan shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

"_Hey calm down_!" Zain said, backing up, "_I'm just here to help!_"

"_I don't believe you! let's get him Hackblades_!" Silias said, dashing towards Zain, Hackblades not far behind.

"_Alright, if you wanna fight, I'll be happy to oblige!_" Zain said, electricity crackling in the air around him as he prepared to fire a thunderbolt at Silias and Hackblades.

"_I'm not falling for that again!_" Silias said, hiding behind a nearby tree. "_I need some help here!"_

"C'mon Flare, let's help out Silias and Hackblades!" Dan said, releasing Flare from his pokeball.

"_Yes?_" Flare said dejectedly, waiting for orders from Dan.

"Use Flamethrower followed by a bite on his tail." Dan told Flare.

"_Ok._" Flare said, running forward while blowing fire at Zain.

"_ENOUGH!!!_" said an unknown voice from the forest near Zain.

"Wha...?" Salle said, looking over to the source of the voice. "Who's there?"

"I Am." Said Absol, stepping out of the bushes. "It's time to stop this nonsense."

"Hah!" Silias shouted, rushing at Absol, shooting water pulses at him.

"Hrm. Annoying, aren't we?" Absol said, waiting just before the water pulses hit, before multiple copies of him came out of nowhere and surrounded Silias. "Pathetic." Was the last thing silias heard before he got hit with a dark pulse, knocking him out cold. "Now do i have your attention?" he said. "I would've thought that Zain would've used a more... subtle approach to helping you, but no matter; seeing as we have already met, I must inform you that you are focusing on the wrong force, per se. It seems that you are off course, am i wrong?" He said, walking around the group. "If you follow the next path to the right, you will get to the town."

"How can we trust you when you just knocked out one of our friends?" Salle said, glaring at absol.

"You can't," said absol, "But really, what choice do you have? come Zain, and remember this, you will have bigger enemies than you think you do, soon. "He said, before disappearing in a cloud of pitch-black darkness.

"...What just happened?" Jared asked.

"I think we just missed getting our butts handed to us." Dan said, "Either way we need to get out of here."

"Agreed. C'mon, the exits this way." Salle said, recalling Silias back into his pokeball.

And so they continued out of the forest, not noticing the glare of absol from the treeline behind them.

---

5:00 P.M. Trenberry town gates.

Trenberry town. An industrial city that's known for its mining sites, Spectre Tourism & Promotion Co. (STPC for short), and the Pokeball Manufacturing Plant near the edge of town. Surprisingly, it has a low population of Grimer.

"Wow, so this is Trenberry?" Salle noted, staring at the Pokeball Plant and the mine.

"Yeah, I've been here once or twice with my mom. I think Spectre is over that way." Dan said, pointing over to the STPC. "And the pokecenter is there too."

"Aright, let's go!" Jared said.

---

*Ding dong*

"Hi! Welcome to Trenberry pokemon center! How can i help you?" Said the nurse joy as the group walked in.

"I need my Floatzel healed please!" Salle said walking up to the counter.

'Maybe i can get a hold of my parents?' Jared thought for a moment before asking nurse joy if he could use the phone.

"Of course you can, they're right over there near the couch." she said.

"Thank you!" Jared said, walking over to the video phones. walking into one of the booths, he looked at the phone confused considering the only video phone he's ever really seen is in those futuristic shows on t.v. 'I'm guessing it works like a normal phone... i hope.' he thought before picking up the receiver and dialing his house's phone number. 'let's see... 4-253-673-8835......' on the screen, a gray message box appeared that said, *I'm sorry, but the number you dialed doesn't exist. Please re-type your number and try again* '...What? Number doesn't exist?'

"Hey what's wrong?" Dan said, walking up behind Jared.

"Gah! Oh, nothing, I d-don't think anyone's home... " he said, hanging up the receiver. "Besides, My parents won't worry if I'm gone for a day or two. Mind if i travel with you guys?" he asked.

"Uh, sure." Dan said, raising an eyebrow. "I think Silias is healed too." Dan said, turning around in time to see Salle walking back with Silias at his side. "You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, and if we see that Absol again, he's got another thing coming if he thinks I'M just going to let him get the better of me again! You'll see!!!" Silias said, stomping his foot to emphasize the point.

"Speaking of coming and going, How about we get going to the contest place?" Salle said.

Remembering that his prize (and the start of his journey) was right around the corner at Spectre, Dan said with gusto, "What are we waiting for, let's go!" before rushing out the doors of the pokecenter.

"Hey! Wait up!" Jared said, with Salle and Silias following not far behind.

--------

5:32 P.M. STPC guardhouse.

"Finally here!" Dan said, running up to the guardhouse. Inside the small one room hut was a middle age man who looked like he spent more time in the gym than the library, if you know what i mean. as Dan came up to the hut, the guard - who's name was Lenny according to his name tag - put down a newspaper he was reading and looked up at him with little interest. "Hi! My name's Daniel Terrian and I'm one of the contest winners!" He practically shouted at Lenny.

"Whoa, calm down there; let's see some ID. You got a winner's letter?" he asked, holding his hand out expectantly.

"Oh, yeah. Hold on." Dan said, rummaging in his pocket for the folded paper. "Here it is!" he said, handing it to Lenny.

"O.K., let's see... Daniel Terrian. alright, any pokemon and/or guests?"

"Yeah, i have one pokemon, a growlithe, and two guests!" Dan said looking around at the sptc building complex, eagerly awaiting entering the building. it was surprisingly small looking compared to the t.v. ad.

"Alright, everything seems in order. Go on in and check in at the front desk, Marcy will tell you where to go from there." Lenny said, waving his hand toward the building while already loosing what little interest he had in Dan. Picking up his newspaper, he said nonchalantly, "Have a nice day."

Walking down the paved road to the STPC center, Salle kept looking back at Lenny. 'Something's up here... I thought Dan was only allowed one guest?' he thought, keeping his opinions to himself while they approached the center.

"C'mon let's hurry!" Dan said, rushing up to the clear doors at the entrance. pushing them open, they came upon a brightly lit hallway with several doors going off to the left and the right. There were signs every so often saying things like 'Office of John Burke' or 'Dept. of Research lounge. EMPLOYEES ONLY!' .

"_I don't like this place... it gives me the creeps_." Silias said from behind Salle.

"Hey, it's not that bad. let's find the front desk already." Salle said, walking forward. After a few seconds, a door somewhere slammed, causing Silias to jump in the air.

"_Holyidontknowanything_," Silias almost yelled, "_i-i mean what was that, e-heh.._."

Looking at Silias, who was walking almost right on top of him, Salle asked, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"_Y-yeah. I just feel like i've been here before. Like some kinda horrible deja-vu. The sooner we get out the better."_

"Ok. Let's catch up with the rest of the group, we're startin to fall behind."

Rushing through the double doors at the end of the hallway, Dan opens them to find a wide almost circular room with four doors, besides the one they came through. High above them, there was a domed ceiling with windows in a ring near the top, letting in a circle of light around the receptionist's desk in the middle of the room.

"Hello! Welcome to Spectre Tourism And Promotion Company, Brightening your day for nearly fifty years! My name is Marcy, How may i help you today?" said a small woman dressed in nearly all pink with the same block-y name tag as Lenny.

"Hi, My name's Daniel Terrian and I won the contest Spectre held!" Dan said, running up to the counter holding out the letter for Marcy to see.

"Ahh, Let me see..." she said, looking down at a computer screen. "Daniel.... Ah! here it is! And these people are your guests? Well, now that I've checked you in, you can have this." She said, handing out key cards to Dan, Salle, and Jared. "These are your room keys. We have provided individual rooms for all of our contest winners and guests to stay in until all of the winners arrive. Your rooms are down the left hall" she said, pointing to the second door to the left of the door they came from, "and the rooms are stocked with a fridge, a t.v., and a telephone. We are expecting the other contest-err winners in a little bit. until then, you can wait in the rooms and we will call you when they arrive! Have a bright and sunny day!" she said, putting on a smile that seems like it should split her face in two.

"Uhh, Thanks!" Dan said, wondering how she stays that happy for a few seconds before turning back to the group. "Well, we're finally here!"

"Good, I need a good nights sleep." Salle said, walking off to the guest sector. After the group went through the door and Salle was sure they were out of earshot of Marcy he stopped Dan and the rest of the group. "Hey. There's something weird going on here."

"What? What makes you think that?" Dan asked with an incredulous look on his face.

"Well, for starters, both Lenny and Marcy didn't stop us when they saw that you have two guests, when you're only supposed to have one." he said

"Ehh, they probably just have less winners than they thought they did so they let you guys in." Dan said.

"Well," Jared started, "What I don't like is how this place is so... Clean. I mean, it feels like someone took a bucket of Mr. Clean and just scrubbed the crud out of a small speck of dirt in the middle of a platter of mud."

"Hey, If i was running the tourism center, i would keep it clean too." Dan said, shrugging. "Besides, We'll only be here for maybe a day at max. Then It's a big adventure to become pokemon masters!" he said enthusiastically.

"Pokemon masters or not, I'm tired. I'm gonna go take a nap." Salle said, walking off to his room.

"I still think something's up, but I'm gonna try and get some sleep too. C'mon Kelar." Jared said, going off to his room too.

With nothing else to do but go to his room, Dan did just that.

None of them got much sleep, however. Whether it was excitement or nervousness (as Salle would hear Silias whispering in his sleep "Erm... Dang Mankey... he's gonna be mad... shouldn't have come here.... no mommy, i don't wanna get up...") all of our group didn't expect what would follow on that next day.

* * *

well folks, that's it for now. i know i took forever, but hey, i'm lazy lol. besides that, i hope you like this chapter, as i don't quite know when i can get the next one out. Though i do have some good ideas for the next one. until next time,

see ya later. Bai.


	7. Big changes

hey everyone, it's ziggy again, with another chapter update. this chapter should get things started and prove way more interesting than previous chapters. hope you all enjoy!

---------------  
10:54 P.M. Location unknown

"Wha? Where am i... Hello?" Said a boy. This boy happened to be in a pitch black room; all he could see was a table with several different stones. 'What're they?' He thought, walking up to the table. Looking closer, he could see that the stones looked like common evolution stones, but somehow different, like there was something... wrong with them. "Are these... evolution stones?"  
"Yes. They are Daniel." Came a voice from the darkness surrounding him.  
"What the fuh? Who said that?"  
"Someone you can trust. But I'm the least of your worries," Said the voice, now emanating from the table, "In fact, I'll give you some hints. First off, you are dreaming. But what happens in this dream can and will be very important in the future. Secondly, You should pick a stone. Pick the right one and you will benefit greatly. But if you pick the wrong one, well, let's just say it might be quite unpleasant for you sometime in the future. Well, i must be off. You better hurry number seven, The Darkness doesn't like to be kept waiting." The voice said, fading to a whisper before disappearing.  
"Well that was strange. I wonder what it meant by it being 'the least of my worries'? Ah, well, I might as well pick a stone. Now which one?... Water? Fire? Ah! I know, how about a thunder stone!" Dan said, before picking up one of the few thunder stones on the oaken table. Suddenly, a shock traveled up his arm, causing him to drop the stone back on the table. "Ouch! What was that for?!?" Bumping the other stones, numbers started to appear above the stones, misty at first, but sharpening quickly. "Numbers? This dream doesn't make any sense! But then again, do any of them?" He said, reaching out to touch the Number Seven. As soon as his fingers grazed the number, A blaze of light emerged from the Thunderstone so bright that Dan had to look away from the table. And as suddenly as it appeared, the light vanished, along with all the numbers.  
"Shit, what was all that about?" Then, starting slowly and with small cracking sounds, the room started to split open everywhere. "This isn't a dream! If it is i wanna wake uuuuuuuuuuuuup!" Dan shouted as a fissure opened up below him and the darkness swallowed him whole.

"Ugh, i feel... itchy? What the hell?" Slowly opening his eyes, Dan looked around and saw that he definitely wasn't in his room anymore. "Well, at least I'm not in that dark pit anymore, but why do i feel so strange?" Looking around he noticed that he was in a stark white room, with little in it but a table and a small mirror. "Well, someone needs to do a little re-decorating in here." He said, his eyes settling on the mirror. "Wait a minute, that's not a mirror is it? It can't be! That's not me!" he said, staring at a very unfamiliar face; in fact, it almost looked like someone had taken the mane, ears, and facial features of a Luxray and put them on a human! "This can't be real... This can't be happening!" Dan shouted, jumping up from the table and smashing the mirror on the floor.

Behind a one-way mirror, two scientists were observing Dan's behavior. "Sir, Experiment #7 is getting unruly. Should we administer the sedative and transfer to cell 137?" said the scientist to the left.  
"Hmm... Yes, i think we better before he hurts himself. At least he didn't nearly flood the room like the last experiment. I want a full report on my desk after he gets to his cell." Said the scientist to the left.  
"Yes Mr. Marlin."

Back in the room, Dan had calmed down somewhat; He had gotten to the point to where he was staring at his now furred and clawed hands in shock when a hissing sound came to his ears. "Wha-" Was all he got out before gas filled the room and knocked him out.

11:25 P.M. Cell Block R, Section 3

"...Man, the least they could do is give me a softer cot..." Salle said, laying down on a cell cot. 'How did i ever get into this mess? To think, i just came here to get that specialty poke-chow for my dad. Ah, well, it's not all bad. heh, the look on that guy's face when i blasted him with water was priceless.' Salle thought. After laying there for a while, he heard a door slam down the hall. turning over on the cot, he saw a guard walking down the hall to the cell opposite his. The only thing was that he was carrying someone or something over his shoulder. Dropping the person into the empty sell and slamming the door shut with a slam, he turned to Salle's cell.  
"Well well, looks like our little 'guest' is finally awake. Heh, looks like you's got a friend now." He said cockily.  
"Yeah It does. And it looks like your still a little wet from earlier too." Salle rebutted.  
"Why you!' said the guard before pulling out a stun rod.  
"Heh, what're you gonna do with that? tickle me? you can't even reach me!" Salle mockingly said.  
"That's what you think!" the guard said before pressing a button on the stun rod, which extended it far enough to deliver a painful shock to Salle.  
"Aurgh!" Salle yelped in surprise as the electricity forced him back onto the cot.  
"That'll learn ya." the guard said before leaving the room.  
"Damn, remind me not to insult the guy with the electrical stick again..." Salle said, rubbing his head. 'What makes it worse is that now since I'm part Floatzel it hurts more than it would have before.' he thought, sitting up on the floor. 'Hmm, i wonder...' He thought, getting up and walking to the cell door. "Hey! is that you Dan? or are you Jared?" he yelled, hoping to get the other person's attention. "....." 'maybe a water gun would wake him up?' "Here goes nothing!" Salle said, building up pressure for a water gun. Aiming the best he could, Salle blasted water through the bars directly hitting the other person.  
"Spbth! *cough cough* Alright already! I'm up!" The other guy said, wiping water off his face. "Man i can't get a break, can i?" He mumbled, sitting up from his position on the floor. "Sigh, Where am i this time?" He said looking around before settling his eyes on Salle. "And who - or what - are you?"  
"It's me, Salle! It looks like they got you too Dan."  
"Salle?!? What happened? Last thing i remember was going to sleep and waking up like this!" Dan said. 'Not to mention that strange dream too.' He thought. "Hell, It looks like they did a number on you too!" He said, looking over at Salle and how he now had fins protruding from his arms and legs, as well as his back. Adding to the look was the characteristic air sac that all Floatzel have and a slight orange tint to his skin; almost like he got sprayed by tan-in-a-can. To top it off was the tail poking out of his rear end.  
"Yeah, but it's not all bad. I did get a few of those guards soaked."  
"So, how're we gonna get outta here?" Dan asked, dampening the mood some.  
"I'm not sure but we need to get Jared and our Pokemon first; then maybe we can find out what happened to us." Salle said, pacing back and forth in his cell. "I got an idea!" he said, stopping mid-stride. "here's what we'll do..."

---------------------------

11:30 P.M. Cell Block R, Section 4

".......Hey you! What ar..... oing? Quit playing aro...... not funny! Hey! Waaaaarg......"

"....."

"What? What was that?"  
"I don't know, sounds like it came from down the hall."  
"Either way, I wonder how that guy over there is."  
"Over where?"  
"Over there, you moron!"  
"... Ooooooh. I don't know. Hey! Hey, Mister! Are you ok?"

"Hunh...?" Jared groggily said, opening his eyes. "What? What's going on?" looking around, he saw that he was in a dim lit cell with only a cot, sink, and a small window high up on the ceiling. Across the room from him was another row of cells, mostly unoccupied, but two of them, however, were not.  
"HI!!! My name's Carneleon Rodriguez Valnsworn the IVth, but you can call me Carrie!" said a young Flareon hybrid who jumped to the front of the cell she was in. Carrie had a big fluff of a tail and mane; her ears, while they clearly weren't human, looked slightly different than normal Flareon ears. She was wearing a sleeve-less shirt with a blue-swirly pattern and knee-length skirt.

"Wow, he's actually awake." said another hybrid, walking close enough so Jared could see her. "I'm Julie." Her hair was a bright sheen of silver, while her hands, oddly, were red and blue. behind her was what looked like a green cape that almost trailed on the floor. she was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and long blue jeans. "And before you ask, I think that I'm a Roserade Hybrid (Never liked 'em though, too green for me). So what's your name?"

"I-it's Jared. Why.. why do you look like that?" Jared said from his cell.  
"Heh, we don't really know." Julie said, "but before you judge us, you should take a better look at yourself."  
"What do you...?!?" Jared said in confusion as he looked down at himself and saw that, in fact, he was different from what he last remembered. His arms were now covered in fur that stuck out in jagged yellow tufts. Also, behind him was now a bushy tail with fur just like what now covered his arms, and what he now assumed his whole body. Reaching up he confirmed that, while shorter, he did have fur on his face. Not to mention that he now had big pointy ears on the top of his head. Still in somewhat a state of shock from earlier, this rendered him nearly speechless. "What?When did? How?"  
"Well, to answer your questions, apparently we're now all hybrids. Me, I'm crossed with a Roserade, Carrie here is -"  
"-I'm part Flareon!"  
"...Yeah, well, and i think you might just be part Jolteon."  
"Y-you can't be serious! .. You are, aren't you?" Jared said, incredulously.  
"Aye lad, she be tellin' the truth now." Came a voice from the cell next to Jared's. "An' take it from me, Ya ain't gettin out o' here any time soon."  
"Aww, C'mon Shamus, lighten up a bit, huh?" Carrie complained.  
"Ach, for you miss, I'll try. But when you've been here for as long as i 'ave, you tend to be a tad, what's the word? pessimistic. Anyway, you might wanna sit down an' wait; I think something be comin' through those doors there soon." Shamus said with a finality.

11:30 P.M. Spectre Co. President's office.

Up near the top of the complex stood a man looking out the window of his office. He stood there for a few seconds before the door behind him opened with a barely audible *click*. "You're late with your report on specimen #7, Jenkins." The man said without turning around.  
"Y-yes sir, b-but i-i have an excuse..." Jenkins said, visibly shaken.  
"Hmm. Do you know why this company has managed to operate for so long without drawing attention from unwanted sources, Jenkins? Punctuality. Organization. Order. All these are needed. Put the report on my desk and leave."  
"Y-yes sir!" Jenkins said, laying the report on the middle of an immaculately clean desk before turning and hurrying to the door.  
"Oh, and Jenkins? don't let this happen again or you might be joining the specimen list."  
"y-y-yes sir!!!" Jenkins said before nearly running out the door.  
"'sigh' good help is so hard to find nowadays. Let's see what that lack-wit gave me." He said, walking to his desk and picking up the report.

it read:

Summary of Subject # 7  
Luxray Hybrid

Subject appears to have adapted well to contact with fractured lightning stone. stone may have been too well preserved as bonding process resulted in a 72/38% mix. Abilities confirmed:  
Thundershock  
Roar  
More analysis needed to confirm full extent of abilities. Higher than normal resistance to most elements.

'Hmm... This specimen has a higher ratio of Pokemon to human... Let's see about the other reports.' the man thought shuffling through the various papers on his desk. lost in his thoughts, he pushed a paper off his desk. it read:

Synopsis of Evo. Stones:  
by Dr. Marlin

Evolution stones; mysterious as they may be, i have found evidence that they have even more power than once believed. If, in fact, a stone becomes fractured or cracked, it begins to let its power seep out. if one said stone is let to 'seep out' for a small period, then crushing the stone will let all remaining energies out. over time, and if the stones crack naturally, they have little or no effect. but using about method, anything in the relative vicinity will change in sometimes unpredictable ways. Test results (see reports on # 1-6) have proven this theory and actually induce a form of hybridization. Unfortunately, the Pokemon/human combination seems random at best.

Note: Some stones are exceptionally difficult to even crack. More analysis is needed on subject.

--------------

11:33 P.M. Cell Block R, Section 3

"Well, that was easier said than done." Salle said, swinging open his cell door.  
"Personally, I'm surprised i could shock someone like that. Now can you come over here and unlock my door?" Dan asked eying the unconscious guard near Salle's cell; "At least before he wakes up?"  
"Yeah, hold on." Salle said, sidestepping the guard and opening Dan's cell door. "Now to find Jared and our Pokemon." Walking down the hallway to the big double steel doors, he turned back to Dan. "So tell me, how did we manage to get ourselves into this?"  
"I have no clue. So, let's find out what's behind door number 1, Shall we?" Dan asked, walking to the door. Pushing on the door, he soon found out that it was a lot heavier than he thought. "Hey, give me a hand here!" With both Salle and Dan pushing on the door, it creaked open slowly.  
"Told you someone be comin'."  
"Now we just gotta see who they are."  
"Who is it, Who is it???"  
"I don't know. Give us some light here, Carrie."  
"OK!" A few seconds later, a burst of flame came flying out of one of the cells on the right, almost reaching across the hall.  
"Holy Miltank! Put that out! We're not guards!" Salle said, staying away from the flames.  
"Salle? Is that you?" Came a voice from the cell across from where the fire came from.  
"Jared?" Dan rushed up to Jared's cell once the flames had died down some.  
"I take it these are friends of yours?" Julie asked.  
"Yeah, I came to Trenberry with them." Jared said. "Do you two know what happened? Why we're like this?" Emphasizing what he said by pulling on an ear and his tail.  
"I'm just as lost as you are." Salle said, unlocking Jared's cell. "but we need to get out of here before the next guard shift comes.  
"It seems to me that we be needin' to hurry then." Shamus said from his cell. "Would you mind lettin' us out o' our cells now?"  
"Yeah, hold on." salle said, walking first to Carrie's cell, then Julie's, and last to Shamus's.  
"Ach, Finally! I can stretch these old legs o' mine!" Out from the cell came Shamus. He looked almost normal; that is, if you could get past the fact that he had four arms. Other than that, he looked like a VERY fit 50-some odd year old man with three Mohawks. He word a button up shirt and carpenter pants. "Haha! Time ta' get out o' this dungeon!" Shamus said, stretching his arms and legs. "After five months of being stuck in here, I'm ready to get some fresh air."  
"We have to get our pokemon first." Salle looked down the hall. "And I have no clue where they are."  
"Hey! HEY!" Carrie nearly yelled, jumping up and down. "I think I know where they're keepin' our Pokemon!"  
"Really? Where?" Dan asked.  
"Weeeeell, I heard on of the guards say to another one, 'You need to go to holding area 3 and check on those Pokemon', or somethin' like that." Carrie said, bouncing on her feet.  
"So what are we waiting for?" Julie said, walking to the door.

And so the group proceeded through the hall, four of them actually. Exiting through the last hall, the group came to a passageway that looked eerily familiar to everyone.  
"Isn't this?" Jared started.  
"The guest rooms? Looks like it." Julie confirmed by opening a door across from where they came.  
"Hey guys! I found a map! I think..." Carrie said, pointing to a computer terminal.  
"Looks like we're here..." Salle pointed to a dot on the 'map'. "...And we have to go here." he said, moving his finger down two halls, the reception area, down one more hall, and into a side door." Let's just hope no-one's on watch." He said, half-jokingly.

And again, the group started down the hall to 'holding area 3'.  
"So how'd you three end up here?" Salle asked while they were walking.  
"Me and Carrie here here came from Canalave City by a ferry near Sandgem town. This company," Julie gestured around them, "Said she won a contest and our... Uncle told me to come with her. When we got here a few days ago, they gave us rooms and then we ended up in cells, looking like this."  
"I'd tell ya' my story, but I think it'll have ta' wait. Look." Shamus said, as they came upon the reception area.  
"Well, looks like I was wrong..." Salle said, looking through the gap between the double door. Though it wasn't guarded like Ft. Knox, it wasn't a one-man rent-a-cop security, either. The receptionist was still behind her counter, blissfully unaware of anything going on around her. One guard was patrolling the entrance hall while another stood at the back wall watching the doors. "I don't think our 'taunt-&-shock' tactic will work this time, Dan."  
"Taunt-&-Shock?" Julie asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"Yeah," Dan started, "Salle taunts the guards, and while they are distracted, I use Thundershock! That's how we got out of our cells."  
"You think they would be more prepared." Jared pointed out.  
"Maybe that would work if we changed it a bit." Carrie spoke up.  
"What do you mean?" Julie asked.  
"Well, I mean, if we did the distraction part. I think I might be able to make, um, a smokescreen. Then we could get past them!"  
"It may not be the best plan, but it's the best we got." Salle said. "Let's do it. Ready Carrie? Ready everyone?"  
"Yeah."  
"Aye."  
"Let's do it!"  
"mmhmm."  
"Yeah."  
"Here goes!" Carrie said before sucking in a huge breath and blowing through the gap in the doors. "Haaaaaaahhh!"  
Shortly after came sounds of commotion from the reception area. "What the-" "What's going on here!?!" "Hey, where'd all the smoke come from?"  
"Let's go!" Dan said, and the group ran out into the smoke filled room. "Stay together and head for the other side!"  
"Wait, who's that? Find them!" said the guards from the smog.  
Bursting out into the other corridor, the group re-assembled on the other side. "Let's hope that smokescreen lasts a while." Jared said.  
"C'mon, let's find our Pokemon before they find out what happened!" Salle Said, rushing off.  
"Hey, wait up! You almost passed the door!" Carrie shouted after Salle. Running to to door, Salle pulled it open to find what looked like a storage room. All along a wall were boxes with three labeled 'Pokemon'.  
"Hey, our Pokemon must be in there!" Dan said, rushing over and opening one of the boxes. "Let's open them and see!" He said, grabbing all six pokeballs. "C'mon out everyone!" He said, pressing the buttons and letting the Pokemon out.  
"YOU CAN'T KEEP ME IN HERE FOREVER! ... Wait, what? I'm out!?!" Silias said appearing in a burst of light.  
"... See? I told you, Silias, if we waited that they would come get us." Hackblades said, sitting down with his arms crossed when he appeared.  
"Jared? Where am I?" Kelar asked looking lost.  
"... W-what? W-who's there?" Flare said, looking around for Dan.  
"Nightshade! You're ok!" Julie said, running up to her Houndoom.  
"Julie?!? What happened to you?" Nightshade asked. 'Ah, almost forgot that she can't hear me.'  
_'She can hear you now. Just like Carrie can hear me now too.'_ a Kirlia telepathically told everyone.  
"Yeah, what Marianna said!" Carrie intoned.  
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Silias asked. "And why you look like you do? 'Cause last I checked it's not Halloween yet."  
"Long story short is that we're not all human anymore. An' I know just who did it." Shamus walked over and picked up a pokeball that had rolled off the shelf.  
"Yeah? Who did this then?" Julie asked.  
"Someone who you can't deal with. You all are still too, ah, inexperienced. An' righ now the only ones who might be able to do somethin' are an old man, and two Pokemon here." Shamus said taking the pokeball he picked up and tucked it in a pocket.  
"What, are you saying we should run like scared little Psyducks?!?" Silias said indignantly.  
"For now, I say we get out of here and get you all some experience. You may think it's not that hard to use a water gun, Thundershock, or shoot some flames out, but did you notice, Carrie, how that flamethrower was so out-of-control? You got power, lass, but as for control, you migh' just as well be a baby Charmander."  
"What makes you so different?" Carrie asked.  
"Wha makes me different is that I 'ave been a hybrid for quite a bit longer than any o' you. That and I've seen tha face o' the man who set this in motion. Now unless you've got a death wish, I think you aught to come with me an' get out o' here." Shamus said, walking to the door. Staring after Shamus, the group eventually filed out the door. All except Silias, that is.  
'He couldn't have meant.... no, that's just...' he thought before following the rest of the group.  
"So where do we go now? We can't really go out the way we came." Jared asked.  
_"Well, from what Carrie's told me, I think those guards will be coming after us soon." _Marianna told everyone.  
"Well, if we go past here, there be a back way out o' the building. I saw it a few days ago when they were takin' me to tha cells." Shamus said. "We jus gotta go down this hall and it's righ around the corner."  
"Alright! Let's get out of here!" Silias said, and the group rushed off down the hallway, hopefully before the guards were alerted to where they are.

----------

11:51 P.M. Spectre Co. President's Office.

Back in Dr. Marlin's office, A guard stumbled in through his door. "Sir! We have a security breach in the cell block! Specimens 7-12 have escaped from their cells and are heading toward the rear exit. Requesting permission to deploy Project Theta?"  
"..." Dr. Marlin Stood up from his desk and walked around to directly face the guard. "Hmm. This might provide interesting enough. Deploy Project Theta. This will be a good test of his abilities."  
"Yes sir!" The guard said before saluting and hurrying out the door.

----------

11:53 P.M. Back yard of Spectre Co.

"Looks like you were right, Shamus. Any ideas where to go now?" Dan asked.  
"Away from here, lad. Up north there be some mountains with a few tunnels that 'don't' exist." Shamus said walking into the field.  
"What do you mean 'don't exist'?" Julie said.  
"You'll see when we get there lassy." Shamus walked no more than two steps before a grinding and screeching sound filled the air.  
"What the fuc-?" Julie said, looking around like everyone else. Then, about 50 feet to the right of them, a crack appeared in the ground, only about 4 feet wide, and it opened to reveal a pit. from the pit came up a small platform, only the platform wasn't empty, there was a person on it. He had on a long-sleeved V-neck shirt and blue jeans as well as a bandage over his left eye, and scraggly short cut hair.  
"So your the infamous 'Specimens' Old man Marlin was talking about, huh? Heh, You'd think that with all the hype he talked about you, that you would be more... Intimidating." He said, stepping forward from the platform. "I do so hope you'll provide some interesting fun. It's been oh soooooo long since I've had anyone worth a challenge!"  
"Who are you? Why do you want to fight us? Who's Marlin?" Dan asked him.  
"Argh! So many questions! My name is Lucas. But I'll tell you what. IF you can provide to be interesting enough, then I might give you some answers. Either way, enough with the talking! IT'S PLAY TIME!!!" Lucas said with a sadistic grin on his face that seemed to stretch literally from one ear to the other before he started walking slowly towards the group.

* * *

Well, that was interesting. Several new characters (most of which are actually mine! holy cow!) I hope you all liked it! The next chapter starts the fight between Lucas and the rest of the group.

Lucas belongs to Evilfox32

Some random trivia: Shamus is based of of Shaun Connery. I was thinking of him and made Shamus have a Scottish accent. i think.


End file.
